Safe return of people to their home following such interactions as dating, meeting friends, attending a meeting, outdoor events, and the like, is not a foregone conclusion. As but one example, on multiple dating websites the aspect that a method for increasing the safety of a person participating in such events is to share the event information and expected return time with a person who may then follow-up to make sure one returns. This places an undue burden on the recipient of the information and also relies on memory skills which can be fallible. Should something negative occur to the participant in the activity and the person charged with recollection forget pertinent information, or incorrectly recall the details, response of emergency personnel could be delayed. Avoiding such delay could be a critical in a successful response. In addition, many people wish to maintain confidentiality with regard to their social lives. The need to tell someone the details of their social life in order to maintain safety breaches confidentiality.
Further, assuring the arrival of people hired to perform work at a remote location, ensuring that children arrive home at the expected time, monitoring the necessarily regimented arrival of care-givers, assessing the residence duration of unmonitored workers, and the like, places a significant burden on already stressed individuals and provides a significant distraction to other tasks. As but one example, proper care and feeding of a pet when the owners are away from home for an extended period of time is imperative. However, it is difficult, and burdensome to call the care-taker each period they are supposed to arrive. Further, even if the care-taker is called, they could present false information about their location. The well-being of the animal is at stake should the care-taker fail to perform expected duties. As a second example, the prompt arrival of children home from school or other activities is of constant concern yet a parent who is otherwise occupied cannot always call the child, nor receive calls, to confirm their arrival. As in the previous example and this example, unwittingly delaying the knowledge of missed arrivals could have dire consequences.
Existing solutions to the problems are inadequate. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,368 may provide a method and apparatus for managing and/or coordinating commitments in such a manner that an agent is notified of a requested response and once the agent responds the action is entered in the database. While in a general manner, this invention may include a response generated as a result of a computerized input request, a response by the system may not be adequate and the system and method may require human (agent) interaction. U.S. Pat. No. 6,560,456 may provide technology that may allow a subscriber to remotely trigger via dialed digits, receipt of a specified or selected text message (short message service or SMS). It, however, may not provide the computer solution of the present invention.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,462 may teach a method and system for delivering and responding to messages to and from a variety of electronic sources in a device independent manner, as well as automatically processing and organizing message responses. As before, this is not, in and of itself a complete solution to the problem involved.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,119,716 may teach a response system and method however, among other aspects, it is not driven by user's desire to be contacted, it does not allow for a cascade of events based on user's response and it does not allow for multiple contact requests to be input at one time.
Other existing systems may require the use of specialized devices to monitor care-takers and their charges. U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,294 may provide a method for monitoring the presence of a person based on visual or verbal recognition which, if recognition is not obtained, triggers an alarm. This type of device may require specialized equipment for recognition and may require prior input to enable recognition. Further the system may function to trigger an alarm if an incidence occurs. U.S. Pat. No. 7,012,534 may provide a system and method for monitoring infants and caretakers by utilizing a system of electronic badges and monitoring device. For the intended broad-based applications, the need for specialized devices is not practical, nor economically efficacious.
There are two computer based so called “reassurance programs” that may perform limited functionalities of assurance monitoring. These include Calling Care by Database Systems Corp. (www.callingcare.com) and Are You OK? by Northland Innovations (www.ruok.com). Both of these systems may require the purchase of a full computer system and the use may be limited to people in communities where the government agencies see fit to purchase such a system. Moreover, the systems may be constrained by the number of calls out of the system at any one time. Because they may require the purchase of hardware and software, it may not be readily available to the general populous, use may be constrained by the local agencies self-imposed limitations, and it may be too expensive to purchase for a small group, small family, or single person. There are also a number of limitations in functionality including, but not limited to, no use of short message service (SMS or text messaging), no use of recognition devices to verify identity of user, lack of coordination with currently available technologies, including mobile web devices and the like, requirement of human-manned calling centers, escalation of security issues may not be driven by the user, but rather may be constrained by a system and they may not coordinate with existing security measures.